So this turned into an extra chapter more than an epilogue, but I'm sure none of you will be complaining. Thank you all so much, enjoy!

15th February

Kate wakes suddenly, noise disturbing her light sleep. The warm body beside her is still, breathing evenly. It wasn't Castle who woke her. Then she hears it.

"Dad, wake-up." A harsh whisper and a soft jolt.

She opens her eyes, lifts her head from his neck, facing her partners daughter.

"You okay?" she asks the girl, her eyes adjusting to the light seeping in from the hall, taking in the form of Alexis in the half lit room.

"Oh, Detective Beckett. Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Alexis has recoiled slightly, stepped back like she plans to undo the act of waking her.

"Kate, please," she corrects her. She's not sure if it's reflex to switch to the formalities or if she's still not quite comfortable with their position, not that it is considerably compromising.

Alexis gives her a tight smile, acknowledgement and steps forward again, watching her dad, the rise and fall of his chest. Kate manages to rise up a little more, so she's not speaking to Alexis lying flat on her back.

She swallows, her throat dry from sleep, her throat still trying to recover. How long have they been asleep? It can't be too late. It is most definitely dark, but Alexis is in pyjamas so she hasn't just arrived home.

"You okay?" It seems like a feeble offer but maybe she can help. The look on the girl's face makes her think the date may not have gone so well.

"Oh." Alexis turns to look at her, chews on her bottom lip, hesitating. "Yeah I'm fine. I just… I was going to send you guys to bed."Alexis flicks her eyes to her dad again, Kate notices the angle of his neck. He may be comfortable right now, but in the morning he'll be whinging about it, probably relentlessly. "You can't sleep on the couch all night," Alexis offers softly, shrugging.

"What time is it?" Kate asks after a second of silence, just as Alexis tries again to rouse her dad, swatting his shoulder and speaking to him.

"Just after midnight," she says quickly. "Dad," her voice is a little louder as she pokes his slack cheek. Kate can't help but smirk.

"Deep sleeper, huh?" Kate asks his daughter softly.

After Alexis nods, she shifts the hand of the arm she's leaning on, hidden by their bodies and pokes his ribs, hard.

"Dad!" Alexis tries again, caught off guard as he grabs the hand she just as she pokes his shoulder.

"I'm awake. No more tag teaming," he mumbles, words slurred, still half-asleep. He's awake enough though to tug on his daughter's arm while crushing Kate against his side again, trapping her hand.

"Dad, you need to go to bed." It sounds like an order and Alexis meets Kate's eyes, looking for support.

She doesn't speak just slips from his grip and sits, managing to drape her legs over his, just touching the floor enough to stand, using the back of the couch for leverage.

He grumbles in protest, she feels his hand slide down her back as she stands, hears it slap against his thigh.

Then it's back before she can turn to speak, tell him to get up, that she's going home.

"Night Pumpkin." She hears him speak softly, his hand moving from her back so she turns to watch their exchange, intrigued. She realises, she may not have seen too much of her partner with his daughter before, but she has a feeling that is going to change.

"Thanks for waking us up. Even if it was a rude awakening." He glares at her over his daughter's shoulder but she catches his smile and shrugs in response.

"Night Kate," Alexis says softly as she pulls away from her dad. The smile she's giving her makes her feel that she most certainly will be seeing more of them together. She'd not expected such quick approval from the teen, hell she'd almost singlehandedly cooked an extravagant dinner for them all.

"Night, thanks again for dinner. Really." She watches Castle nod to his daughter as she flicks her eyes to him.

"You're welcome." She smiles, brushing it off as not too big of a deal. "He needed some help anyway," she teases, smirking at her dad as he feigns disgust.

"I did not." He touches his chest, feigned injury.

They both raise an eyebrow at him in response.

He sighs, drops his hand. "Okay, maybe a little," he resigns.

His daughter laughs while Kate just cracks half a smile, acknowledging him.

"I'll see you guys in the morning." Alexis waves to them as she steps back, turning to head upstairs.

"Not me," Kate volunteers. "I'm sure I'll see you soon though," she adds as the girl turns back around, not bothering to hide her shock.

"You're not staying?" both father and daughter ask at once.

She chuckles at them lightly.

"I have to get to the precinct early." She shrugs as she moves her eyes to her partner. "We have a case to solve."

"You can leave from here," he challenges, steps closer, slides his fingers through hers.

She's just about to step closer, kiss him then refuse, insist she has to go when Alexis speaks. "Plus he'll make pancakes for us."

Damn. Now she's got them both working against her.

She watches him exchange a glance with his daughter, a silent thanks she assumes.

"And coffee." He seems to have caught onto the game now, teasing, stepping closer, touching her waist.

She shivers as his fingers skim her back, but she leans away from him, still resisting. Why she is bothering she doesn't exactly know. But she has to maintain the argument at least for a while yet.

"I'm going to let you two, uh, work this out. I might see you both in the morning?" Alexis takes her leave, speaking quickly before she heads up the stairs.

"You will see us both in the morning," Castle says pointedly to his retreating daughter, not breaking eye contact with Kate, leaning close as she swallows, pressing his mouth to hers softly.

"I should go, Castle," she mutters, finally leaning into the warmth of his chest.

"You're not going anywhere. It's well past midnight. By the time you get home…"

"Okay," she sighs.

"Hmm," he hums as he leans down and catches her lips with his own then his hands are on her hips, guiding her with him as he moves backwards toward his bedroom, kissing her softly repeatedly.

He stops walking to kiss her more intently when she touches her tongue to his lips.

When she has to stop to regain her breath, she presses her forehead to his chin, feels him press his lips to her skin.

"You know I never thought my plan would work?" he whispers as he moves to look down at her.

She blinks. "Why not?" she asks softly, quite curious about his hesitations, his doubts.

"I didn't know if you thought you were ready for this." He shrugs. "I could tell you were ready, everyone else could tell. Alexis asked me about it not long after Christmas." He chuckles softly, bittersweet. "She's the one who helped me with the plan, gave me some ideas."

"Really?" she asks. She's not sure which option she's asking about. Him and his daughter conspiring to bring them together or the fact he'd considered how ready she was before he began it all, probably discussed that with his daughter too.

"Yeah, all of it," he assures softly. Apparently he doesn't know what she's asking about either.

"Well I'm glad you did it. I was quite confused at first," she confesses, shrugging as he raises a brow, slides his arms further around her. "But I didn't consider running. I thought about it a lot though but never considered asking you to stop leaving things in my pockets or breaking into my apartment and rummaging around my bedroom."

"I had a key," he defends, squeezing a hip with a hand she didn't notice wandering. "It's hardly a B and E if I've got a key."

"Legally it still is." But she's not getting into technicalities; he's distracting her, easing her into this, showing he understands her. It makes her want to kiss him again.

She doesn't fight it, but does keep it brief, soft, habitual. She realises she'll have to be careful it doesn't become too much of a habit that she lets her guard down at work. She cringes inwardly at the thought of such a thing making their relationship shift public knowledge.

"When you asked me for dinner I didn't even consider that it wasn't a date."

He smiles widely in response, apparently glad to hear it.

"The stupid bear keeps following me around my apartment."

He laughs and kisses her once. "Did she dress herself in the outfit as well?" he asks, teasing as he shifts her whole body, turning so her back is to his chest as he gently spins them both, facing her toward his bedroom and nudging her forward.

"Maybe." She leans back harder against his chest, lets him wrap his arms further around her, one crossing her stomach, resting on her hip and the other across her chest, holding her shoulder, guiding, leading.

He kisses her neck once, laughs against her skin.

"But no more cake, or chocolate, or candy hearts, or bears, or cupcakes, or-"

"Okay, okay I get it."

"Are you sure? Because if we keep eating half a cake every night we'll both end up the size of whales." She may be teasing, but she's serious.

He chuckles and kisses her skin again, darting his tongue out to taste, nipping once with his teeth before he pulls away. "You have a long way to go before you're a whale, Kate."

"I know, but I don't need you to shower me with desserts to show me…" she trails off, realising where she was headed. Not sure they're ready for that. Now isn't the time to bring it up, delirious with chocolate cake, the warmth of his body, the prospect of curling up with him to sleep. Sure it's a fact they are both well aware of but-

He saves her.

"How I feel about you," he finishes for her before kissing her neck again, nipping softly, an attempt to distract her she's certain of it.

But that's wrong.

She shakes her head, feels him stop moving, ease his mouth off her skin.

As soon as she feels his mouth leave her she turns in his arms. She needs to face him if she's going to say it.

If she's going to take a damn leap of faith she needs him to catch her if she stumbles at the edge. She knows he will. He'll understand if she can't do this. But she knows its written on her face anyway so that will be enough for him, for now, until she can wrap her tongue around the words. Maybe she should make herself say them when she's alone, get her tongue used to it, like it's a foreign dialect she must learn. It kind of is.

But then he's in front of her, keeping his arms tight around her. He looks concerned, a little shocked and definitely uncertain. He doesn't know where she's going with this so she better find the damn words and find them fast.

She smiles before she starts, small but an attempt to reassure she's not sure he'll understand until she does. "How you feel about me is written all over your face. Everything you say and do tells me that, always has. But…" she trails off. Here comes the hard part.

She swallows as he skims his fingers over her jaw, encouraging she assumes, urging her to speak she knows.

"But I don't need any more gifts to show me you love me."

Now, was that so hard?

Surprisingly not.

"There are other ways you can show me," she volunteers, continuing as she slides her hands up along his arms to his shoulders, fingertips pressing into his skin, nails dragging over the fabric.

His eyebrows damn near touch the back of his head they raise so high so quickly.

She chuckles and kisses him purposefully.

He runs his hands over her back, exploring, finding glimpses of skin and pressing his own fingertips into the fabric of her shirt.

"Hmm," he hums against her mouth, pulling away enough to speak. "I think I can manage that," he taunts as he finds her hips, presses them to his own again.

She allows it for a second before she worms free, detaches their mouths, untangles her arms and legs from his own and draws her whole body, hips and all, away from him, headed to his room without him. He won't be far behind.

"You can start by finding me some sweats that I can sleep in." She throws the words back over her shoulder.

Then he's behind her again, crowding her but not touching, like he's unwilling to push his luck.

She sits on the end of his bed while he rummages for the clothes, apparently pants with a drawstring suit him fine. He tosses her a shirt a second later.

"I'll brush my teeth and change in there," he points over his shoulder, "you can change here, then we'll swap." He kisses her softly before he moves into his en suite, closing the door.

She slides on the much-too-big pants and the shirt that falls mid-way down her thighs, keeping her eyes on the en suite door. She could almost get away with that alone, but not tonight. Making teasing comments and kissing him is one thing, but being barely dressed and asking him to control himself is another. It wouldn't be fair.

Then he's speaking to her, asking if she's decent.

She nods.

Then realises he can't see her and has to laugh at herself.

"Yeah," she responds finally as she opens the door before he can, always competitive. She hopes that never changes, hopes their dynamic doesn't shift and falter. But the way he's looking at her as he leans in to kiss her again has her all but quaking under his gaze.

"I put a toothbrush on the counter," he volunteers.

"Thanks. I'll be a minute." She kisses him in thanks and because she can, habitual again. She's getting used to this much too quickly.

He slides beneath the sheets as he listens to her wash her face, brush her teeth. It doesn't escape his notice that she never bothered to close the door. Whether it's habit from not having to in her own apartment or simply that she's comfortable with him listening to her splutter as she washes her face and spit as she brushes her teeth, he doesn't care.

She stops as she comes out of the doorway, hands stop running through her hair too, no longer gathering it all together tying it with a band she's apparently pulled from thin air.

"What?" she asks, self conscious and moves to turn back into the bathroom, like she's got toothpaste on her shirt or something.

It is her shirt, it is not his anymore.

"Nothing," he calls to her back. "Just…" He waits until she turns to face him, still puzzled. "Get over here." He should have said something more witty, or romantic, or meaningful. But it's late and she's wearing his clothes. Sweatpants that are apparently falling off her slender frame, the crotch at her knees already, and a shirt that is almost a dress, swimming as she moves her hands above her head again, regathering the hair she dropped in her self-conscious state.

He hears her chuckle as she crawls over the bed, starting at the foot as she comes up beside him. He'd deliberately set himself in the middle so she had no choice but to be close to him on the huge mattress. He's already slid beneath the sheets and he notices that she's not moving to, just settled beside him head on the headboard, knees pulled almost tight to her chest. He's not sure if she's hesitating from fear or excitement.

Judging by her smile he is assuming the later.

He slides both arms around her lifts her slightly then drops an arm and flicks the edge of the covers, inching her feet beneath as he sets her back against the headboard and the mattress.

He slides down the bed, arms beneath the sheets as he rolls to face her.

She's watching him, curious, smiling.

Then he touches her foot, tugging on her ankle after skimming his fingers over the top of her foot. Ticklish feet, he'll have to make a note.

"You can't sleep up there," he prods, knowing she doesn't need too much encouragement, just a hint of a request. Just like that.

Then she's sliding over his sheets, pretending like it's an effort but it's not. He can see her smile through his dark bedroom. He's glad he didn't bother to turn the lights on, just the en suite which she thoughtfully flicked off as she left it. He doesn't think that he'd be able to bear pulling his body from hers for the second it would take to flick the lamp off.

"Night Castle," she mutters as she settles his head against his chest, apparently already close to sleep.

"Until tomorrow," he mutters.

"Today is tomorrow," she says, her voice husky and soft. Sleep has just about claimed her.

"I know," he murmurs into her hair.

He does. He's not about to fight over the technicalities with her.

Today's or tomorrow's he'll take them both, as many as he can get. He suspects there'll be more than a few.

fin.

Thank you to every single person who has read, altered, favourite and/or reviewed this. It's been a fun ride.

Thank you kimmiesjoy for your help with the gifts and their order. Your encouragement with the more difficult days is much appreciated. It's always fun to read your reviews and subsequent 'spoiler' demands : )